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Three or four biobeds generally lined the walls of sickbay's intensive care unit, or ICU; these were for patients receiving medical care and were equipped with biofunction monitors. On Galaxy-class starships, private rooms were available for long-term patients. (TNG: "Ethics")

Sickbays also had surgical beds, where major surgeries were performed and critical patients were treated. A large, sophisticated sensor cluster was usually installed directly above this bed. Working in conjunction with a medical tricorder, the sensor suite could give detailed information about a patient's condition. The bed was also designed to use a surgical support frame. This bed was often located in the center of the main sickbay room, although refit Constitution-class and Intrepid-class starships had separate spaces for their surgical beds, the former in a separate room, the latter in a small area that could be isolated by a force field. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture; VOY: "Caretaker", "Phage") If necessary, surgery could be conducted in the intensive care ward if there was an overflow of patients or if another patient was present to donate blood. (TOS: "Journey to Babel"; VOY: "Latent Image") Galaxy-class starships also had separate surgical rooms. (TNG: "Ethics")

Sickbays typically had small laboratory facilities attached to the ICU. The chief medical officer or other associated personnel could monitor experiments or run tests here during their duty shift. (TNG: "Evolution", "Clues", "The Game"; VOY: "Macrocosm") The laboratory was equipped with a full bioisolation field. (TNG: "Home Soil") Many starships also have separate, larger medlabs. Galaxy-class ships had at least four. (TNG: "Ethics"; Star Trek Nemesis)

The sickbay laboratory set as seen in "Evolution" was directly connected to the sickbay set by a glass door in the waiting area of Dr. Crusher's office. It was redressed several times, and also served as the tactical laboratory.

The chief medical officer's office was also located in or near sickbay. As with the captain's ready room, it was an area for the CMO to work in privacy or conduct meetings with patients, staff, and others. Its close location allowed the CMO to be present in sickbay almost immediately. The space could be personalized, and the chief medical officer could use plants or paintings for decoration. Dr. Beverly Crusher had a large painting outside her office; it was an abstract representation of humanoid organs against the backdrop of space and several of the USS Enterprisestarships.

Sickbays could provide limited psychological services to a starship's crew. In the 23rd century, the ship's doctor often doubled as an informal counselor. (TOS: "The Cage") By the 24th century, counselors became a normal part of starship crews. Although not formally part of the medical staff, the counselor played an important role in the well-being of the crew. (TNG: "Relics") Counselors were not always assigned to starships, especially smaller vessels with limited missions. While the USS Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant, the ship's Emergency Medical Hologram and morale officer Neelix informally filled the counselor roles. (Star Trek: Voyager)

When a large scale disaster was encountered by a starship, cargo bays and shuttlebays could be used as triage centers and even morgues if necessary. Generally, this was only feasible on larger ships with a sizable medical staff. On Galaxy-class ships, a chief medical officer could order all Starfleet crewmembers and civilians with medical training to assist during a major crisis. (TNG: "Night Terrors", "Ethics") Galaxy-class starships also carried large quantities of backup medical supplies in the event of disaster. (TNG: "Preemptive Strike")

The Emergency Medical Hologram was an asset to medical personnel introduced in 2370. It could be activated in the event of a major emergency or loss of the medical staff. Although its value was indisputable, many Starfleet doctors, including Beverly Crusher, were not fond of the program, and it was rewritten several times. (Star Trek: First Contact; DS9: "Doctor Bashir, I Presume"; VOY: "Life Line") One noteworthy EMH was The Doctor of the USS Voyager. He was activated shortly after the ship's disappearance in 2371, and served as their chief medical officer for nearly seven years, growing into a sentient being in the process. (VOY: "Caretaker", "Endgame")

One early concept sketch of the NX-class sickbay was illustrated by John Eaves. His boss, Production Designer Herman Zimmerman, initially reckoned that – because the final design of the room made it look quite similar to a contemporary hospital ward – viewers might at first think it seemed like it was an area from the TV series ER. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 135, p. 65) While Eaves was busy conceiving the look of the NX-class bridge stations, the sickbay was one of several areas that Art Director Louise Dorton adopted the task of designing, still under Zimmerman's supervision. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 7, p. 51)

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It should be noted that while "Mirror, Mirror" put sickbay on Deck 5, most Constitution-class blueprints instead put it on Deck 7. The sickbay was also once referred to as a "dispensary". (TOS: "The Man Trap") Additionally, wards were redesignated following the refit. Before the refit, they were identified by number; after, by letter. (TOS: "The Man Trap", "The Naked Time"; Star Trek: The Motion Picture, text commentary by Michael Okuda who names two of the wards as Ward A and Ward B.)

The Enterprise-B sickbay was actually a redress of the foyer from the Earth spacedockNAR-30974. Although that configuration of the set included windows and a Federation wall logo, the windows were filled in and the logo was removed for the set's reuse as sickbay. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion 3rd ed., p. 312) The windows were actually filled in by a wall. The room was designed by John Eaves. He dedicated one corner to a surgical center that he also designed, planning for it be an area where major operations would take place. Eaves later noted, "We also came up with a unique framework, separating each medical bed by using wall beams. As it happened, though, sickbay was so crowded in that scene that the audience really couldn't see it." Despite being hard to distinguish in the film, the surgical area additionally doubled as an ops console aboard the Amargosa observatory, dressed in different colors from how it appeared in sickbay. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Sketchbook: The Movies, p. 62) The Excelsior-class sickbay also featured entirely new biobed designs and futuristic thermal materials for linens. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion 3rd ed., p. 312)

In the alternate timeline featured in "Yesterday's Enterprise", the Enterprise-D sickbay was made to look slightly different from its usual appearances. As well as the room incorporating unusually darkened lighting devised by Director of Photography Marvin V. Rush, the coloration of backlit strips near the ceiling was changed to yellow. ("Yesterday's Enterprise" audio commentary, TNG Season 3 Blu-ray)

On Intrepid-class ships, sickbay was on Deck 5. (VOY: "Tuvix", "Flashback") The entire medical staff consisted of a doctor and a nurse, supplemented by an EMH. (VOY: "Caretaker") Sickbays on the Intrepid-class were unable to handle heavy patient loads, much to the frustration of Voyager's EMH, who requested a larger facility at some point during Voyager's journey through the Delta Quadrant. (VOY: "Deadlock", "Waking Moments")

On Defiant-class ships, sickbay was on Deck 2. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual) Sickbays were spartan, usually staffed with a single physician or medic. The room was equipped with limited surgical facilities and was primarily intended to stabilize patients until they could be delivered to a nearby friendly starbase medical facility. (DS9: "Waltz", "Valiant")

Sickbays on the Prometheus-class were somewhat small, each containing a single surgical biobed and a spartan research area. However, the sickbays were stocked with the latest in medical technologies and were the first to test the EMH Mark II. (VOY: "Message in a Bottle")

In the script of "Where No Man Has Gone Before", sickbay is described as "the small 'Hospital', the pleasant and comfortably furnished room -- not the usual Spartanish hospital type." The script goes on to describe the room's furnishings.